...18 years ago...

Up at 10 or so. Out. Eat and drive to Athens GA. Arrive around 3:30PM or so. Stop in the Uptown Lounge. A dive just like the 40 Watt - almost better though...

We played Athens a few times. I think by this time it had already gone through it's ultra cool faze with REM and the B-52's in the early 80's. There still seemed to be a cult of REM fans around though. I seem to remember bumping into some of the boys at the 40 Watt club when we played there - a drunk Peter Buck in the dirty mens room, and Mike Mills in the crowd.

We wander around town. Buy postcards and sketchbook, pens and a great children's book called 3 Gay Tales From Grimm. Published in 1947 - with these great pen illustrations. Only $3.60 at the used bookshop in Athens.

I don't have that book any more. Too bad, because look: Three Gay Tales Book - Used ...damn! Why did I get rid of that!!!

Wander around. We meet back at the Van about 5:30 or so. We go and eat at a spaghetti restaurant at Joe's suggestion. We go back to Uptown for setup and sound check. The sound guy is real slow - he's smoked too much dope. We check - ok sound. Monitors have a buzz in them. A problem the club never seemed to want to get out of the system.

My comment about the slow sound man in fact turned out to be about lots of fine folks all over the Southern states. Us Northerners move too fast. It may be a stereotype or generalization, but people in the South just take it slower than we we're used to.

After check, Lee and I go to a bar and have a beer. Joe joins us later. We return to the club and hang out and drink beer and watch the first band. Local boys who have been together for about 3 days. 'Crack' was the name. They sucked big time - Hardcore - at least they weren't an "REM" cover band. They were so loud that I had to go outside and hang out in the van with Dan.

Caroline from the radio station showed up. She's nice and is originally from Cherry Hill NJ. We talk about Camper Van Beethoven. I like 'em and they apparently like us a whole lot. They just got a deal to open for REM for a month. I suppose a very good thing for them.

Gee - I sound a little jealous here. The Campers and we played some shows together through the years. We returned from a tour once to find them camped out (pun intended...) in our house in West Philly. There was a friendly rivalry going on between us. We liked them and they liked us (at least I think they liked us...).

We set up and go on about midnight. Play well. Crowd seems to enjoy it. Punks and college kids. 'Old Ironsides' showed up - The guy in the wheelchair we stayed with in July when we played the 40 watt club. I had slept in a room with a squawking parrot. You can guess that it was not a great place to stay.

This is a whole story in itself. The fellow I refer to is none other than Vic Chestnut. I don't think he was performing yet. When we played at the 40 Watt club last time (July 86), he was very kind and befriended us and let us stay at his house. The house was out in the country outside of Athens. I think we were all drunk but he more than any of us, so he had Dave R. drive his tricked out (for wheelchair driving) van for him. He shared the house with two girls who helped take care of him. I slept in a room that was piled floor to ceiling high with boxes and furniture and stuff to one side of the room. There was a parrot in a cage which squawked the whole night. I put up with it just for a chance to sleep in a real bed (by myself!) and not the sleeping bags we were used to. The roadie on that tour slept on a couch out on the porch only to wake up with the hot July Georgia sun in his face...

Play new stuff in encore. Goes well. Hang out - pack up - say goodbyes. Go to Best Western Colonial Inn. Nice and cheap- $34 dollars. (Very cheap down here - someone we meet rents a house for 150 a month. Another person told us they rent an apartment for $80 dollars a month). Sleep at 3:15AM.

The "new stuff in encore" mentioned would have been songs for the album Bucky Fellini. We were heading to Austin at the end of this tour to record there with Brian Beattie from the band Glass Eye.